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I know the importance of reading nonfiction texts with my students; however, I am not a fan of assigning an essay after every reading, especially in December. I wanted my students to think critically about the text, to absorb it fully, and to demonstrate comprehension. So I turned to the found poem.
To write a found poem, the writer must make decisions about which text to keep and connect to. This requires critical thinking skills. For a found poem to work, the words and phrases need to be placed creatively.
We read “Shattered Sky”, a narrative nonfiction story in the November issue of Scope magazine published by Scholastic. In this story, my students read about a little known disaster in Halifax Harbor in 1917, one hundred years ago. They were fascinated. The author of the text, Kristin Lewis used craft moves to heighten the emotions of the story. I instructed my students to underline phrases and words that brought about an emotional response.
When we had written and were sharing our writing, Faith said, “I am amazed at how different everyone’s poem is.” And she was right. Each one was different. Each student had found a unique voice. Each poem reflected a different aspect of the article.
When Andrew posted his poem on our blog, he titled it “I like this poem, so you should.” Mason thought it was the best poem he’d ever written.
This exercise of finding a poem gave my students confidence to recognize craft moves as well as create a unique piece of nonfiction poetry.
Poem for Halifax
December 6th
They ring a bell
The image they see
They want to repelChildren getting ready, grabbing their schoolbooks,
Fathers, ready to work, grab their coats, off the hook.
Dartmouth and Halifax, buzzing with activity,
while mothers make oatmeal, hot and ready.Two boats, Mont-Blanc and the Imo
With explosives and munitions, ready to blow.
There was no saving them, as far as we know.
Neither ship changed course and tore into the other and
put on a dangerous light showOrange and blue fire ignited the boats
People rushed to rescue, thought they could help.
They succeeded but some retreated up.Andrew, 5th grade
Shattered
The water had a thin mist of terror of WWI
The chimney swirled of smoke and ash
The people of Halifax were doing their everyday things
From eating to cooking and going to work
Then a sudden rumble and crackle of the two ships of cargo collide
They rush outside as every thing burst into flames and then boom
A sad tragedy will forever live in our hearts.
Mason, 5th grade
See more found poems at our Kidblog site.
Reflections on the Teche 